Fulgora (mythology)
Widow goddess mentioned by Varro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
According to Augustine of Hippo's The City of God (5th century AD), Fulgora was a Roman goddess mentioned in Varro's Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (1st century BC).[1] As quoted by Augustine, Varro cites Fulgora as an example of a widow goddess, alongside Populonia and Rumina.[2] According to Robert Dyson, she was "presumably the goddess of, or who protects against, lightning (fulgor)".[3] Writing in 1910, Georg Wissowa considered it evident that Fulgora was a female equivalent of Fulgur, an epithet of Jupiter, though he notes that the prospect of the name's use as an epithet of Juno goes against the description of Fulgora as a widow.[4] Fulgora is unattested beyond this passage from Augustine.[5]
